


Toivosaari snippets

by Jiiri



Series: Toivosaari [3]
Category: Stand Still Stay Silent
Genre: Finland (Country), Home, Kissing, M/M, Multi, Suomi | Finnish, Toivosaari
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-23
Updated: 2020-11-23
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:42:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 2,658
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27689123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jiiri/pseuds/Jiiri
Summary: This work includes snippets and vignettes related to the Toivosaari continuum. These are short works done for Forum challenges etc. Chapters are posted in order of writing and are not in chronological order at all. The chapter title is the prompt used.Chapters will be added in the future.
Relationships: Lalli Hotakainen/Emil Västerström
Series: Toivosaari [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2024846
Comments: 7
Kudos: 9





	1. Baking

Onniii! Help! Quickly!” Lalli’s shout startled Onni, weeding the veggie patch. Heart pounding, he ran inside.  
“What is it? The kids? Is somebody hurt? Are you hurt?”  
“Kitchen! I need help!” Onni bounced through the door into disaster zone. Everything, including Lalli, was covered in flour. Actually, especially Lalli. The kids were throwing flour and lumps of batter and clearly having the best time ever.  
“What in the name of Mielikki…!”  
“I wanted to make a cake for Emil. I thought it’d be nice if I did it together with the kids. I was wrong. You must help me clean!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written for Chapter Break Filler round 1, 13.4.2020


	2. Leaves

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emil must learn things

“Come on Lalli, give me a break! That’s just a bunch of leaves!” Emil groaned.  
“Not just leaves. Nothing is “just”, stupid. This one is food. These, medicine.” Lalli was piling leaves and other parts of plants on the table. “You must learn. This one’s roots are food, this gives berries, this used for dyeing, spice, tea, tea against cough, helps with sleep, food, spice…”  
“But they all look the same!”  
“Pay attention. I teach. You learn”  
“But why do I have to…”  
“You live here now, with us. You learn. Let’s start again.”  
*Sigh* “Ok. But you are a pain in the behind sometimes you know.”  
“Pay attention now. Let’s start with the ones you should know. I show, you tell.”  
“Right, right. I’ll try. So. Puolukka.”  
“Correct. What is it?”  
“Berries, in the autumn.”  
“Yes. This?”  
“Mustikka. Berries in summer.”  
“Good. See, you pay attention, you learn. Go on.”  
“Voikukka. Food, all parts in different time. Ratamo, for wounds. Poimulehti… for eating and tea…”  
“See. You are stupid but you can learn!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The plants are puolukka = lingonberry, mustikka = bilberry, voikukka = dandelion, ratamo = plantain, poimulehti = Lady’s mantle
> 
> Chapter break filler round 1, 18.4.2020


	3. Forest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Lalli's birthday but nobody cares

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter break fille round 1, 20.4.2020 (Lalli's birthday)

It’s Lalli’s birthday. No one cares. Wake up, breakfast, wash. Lalli doesn’t care for any of that weird stuff, cakes and all. It’s stupid. He goes to work, silent and efficient. Birthdays are for stupid people anyway.

At dinner, Lalli is quiet. “What is it? Bad day?” Emil asks.  
“No. I’m fine.” Silence again.  
“Well, I’m glad you are fine.” Emil is irritatingly normal. It’s just like the stupid Swede to forget!

They do the dishes together. Maybe Emil doesn’t really care for him. Maybe he’s fooling Lalli for some weird reason! Lalli almost breaks the plates piling them into the cupboard. Stupid plates!

Dishes done, Lalli puts on his coat to go out to sulk. No reason. He’s fine. He’s just irritated and Emil is stupid and the day is stupid and everything is stupid. He needs the calm of the forest.  
“Honey, wait for me!” Now the weird Swede is putting on his coat! Doesn’t he really see that Lalli wants to be alone! Why must everybody be so stupid today!

Emil must notice Lalli’s glare, but he just says cheerfully “Let’s take a little walk in the forest.”  
“The forest? You don’t like the forest after dark!” Now Emil is stupid and weird.  
“No, but you do. Come on.” Emil picks up a basket and leads Lalli towards a forested stretch of the shore he knows Lalli particularly likes.

At the shore, Emil takes furs for them to sit on from the basket, followed by cinnamon rolls, cookies, a small cake. “Happy birthday, love!”  
“What? For me? You didn’t need to…”  
“I wanted to. Just say thank you, silly Finn”.  
“Don’t be weird about it!... but thanks.”  
Songs of blackbirds, waterfowl rustling in the reeds and a gentle wind surround the boys, munching sweets in the night.


	4. Support

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emil gets support

Emil was getting accustomed to country living. It was very beautiful at Toivosaari, and he enjoyed the work at their building site. Sometimes it was just the three of them working either on Emil and Lalli’s house, or Onni’s. Other times they helped some of the other people of the village putting up ridge beams or very large timbers. Similarly they received help whenever more strength or hands were required. The people were friendly and supportive of his attempts at so far quite broken Finnish.

And most importantly, Lalli flourished among his own. He definitely wasn’t a social butterfly, but he was clearly comfortable with most of the neighbors, as long as there weren’t too many people together. He went so far as to make the effort to arrive at the village meetings or occasional feast, even if he soon slipped away to watch from a little distance. Even Onni was… well, not relaxed, but less tense here than Emil had ever seen him. Being back to Finland really was good for both of them.

He really did want to build his life here, and he was making steps towards it. Sometimes some of the neighbors may turn up to ask just for him, if they needed only one person. And after he’d taken to the habit of playing with the kids (there weren’t many yet), he was sometimes asked to come help with them, which he loved to do. Two of the kids were even interested in learning some Swedish from him.

But. Toivosaari was small. In fact, it was a tiny village. The good side was everybody knew each other well, and you could always trust to receive help from anyone you asked. The bad side… sometimes it was a bit boring. There were no shops, no events, no radio. Even the newspaper came about 1-2 times a month, and was of course in Finnish.

Sometimes Emil felt isolated and frustrated to not know anything about the comings and goings of the Scandinavian capital. Or fashion! Lalli made clear they can take the trip to the capital island to shop for clothes or whatever Emil wanted, but it was hardly the same.

One Wednesday in late September the weekly post boat arrived again. Emil happened to be at the village waterfront, so he heard the postman yelling: _“Paketti Emil Västerrstrröömmille! Asuuko täällä joku Västerrstrrööm?”_  
“Oi, that’s me! Thank you!” The parcel was fairly large, about the length of his lower arm each way. The postal markings on top said MORA. Oh, what could it be!

Back at the home sauna, Emil sat on the porch and pried open the parcel. It was a treasure chest! There were two really nice shirts, some cookies and sweets in glass jars (Emil made a mental note to turn those over to Lalli... well, most of them at least), newspapers and even a fashion magazine. And best of all! Three bottles of Emil’s favorite shampoo, and one of conditioner!

The enclosed long letter gave him news of how things were in Mora and Sweden in general, as well as about how his cousins, uncle and aunt were doing. In closing, Siv had written: _“I enclose a few items you may find hard to come by in Saimaa. I know your hair may get tangly in wintertime, so I added the conditioner too. With love, your aunt”._

********************************

llustration by Mirasol_201! Thank you for letting me use it!

[](https://postimg.cc/w1ph9BJc)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The postman yells "Package for Emil Västerström! Does someone names Västerstöm live here?" but his pronunciation of Emil's surname is a bit wonky.
> 
> Chapter Break Filler round 2, 9.7.2020


	5. Return

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lalli returns

"Oh! There you finally are! Where have you been!"  
"Scouting. I said."  
"You don't need to go scouting! Let the youngsters do that."  
"Wanted to."  
*Sigh* "I know you want to be alone every now and then. But I was so worried!"  
"I told you I'm going!"  
"Yes! You said you'd be gone "for a while"!"  
"I was."  
"Do you even know how long you were?"  
"A while?"  
"Three nights! Three full nights! And in this weather!! I feared for you so much! If both Onni and Reynir hadn't assured me you are not hurt, I would have had to come for you!"  
"You? You wouldn't have found me."  
"True. I would have gotten lost and frozen to death! How would that make you feel, hm?"  
"Now you are being stupid again."  
"Stupid? I'm the one who's stupid? What about someone who doesn't know three nights is not "for a while"! On Monday I was... ah, mmm, hmm"

When his husband calmed down and responded to his kiss, the scout released him gently. "Better?"  
"Hmph, ok, better. But you must tell me!"  
"Ok ok, I'll try to remember you are stupid. How could I forget?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Forum YoinkTober 2020, 2.10.2020


	6. Mask

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Something scary is afoot!

Emil rushed in banging the door loudly and waking Lalli up with a start. Alarmed, Lalli jumped up and grabbed his blade, while Emil was trying to regain enough breath to tell him what the matter was.  
“Tr... phhh... trolls! In the village!”  
“What! This can’t be happening! Are you sure!?”  
“Yes! I saw three trolls, about human-sized, approaching the central square!”  
“But it’s still daylight!... Now, hold on! What did they look like? Exactly?”  
“They were sturdy and furred, and had great claws! And large bulbous heads with horns! At least one of them had also growths looking like antlers, protruding from its body! They were making a wailing sound! What are you waiting for! You must come quickly!”  
Lalli considered the matter for a second. It was tempting, but no. He decided to spare Emil. This time.

“Honey, remember how we discussed yesterday, that Kekri will be soon?”  
“Yes, so? We’ll hardly be having a festival when we are under attack!” Emil was besides himself.  
“And how do we have the festival, hmm?”  
“Lalli, why...”  
“Just humor me.”  
“Ok, so Kekri festivities include eating and drinking, and... oh by Mielikki!” Emil Slapped his forehead (in a rather dramatic but weirdly attractive way, in Lalli’s opinion).  
“Go on!”  
“And some people dress as the Kekripukki and go around the village, asking for food and inviting people to the party. Lalli, I am an idiot!”  
“I know. But you are a good baker! Help me carry the cakes.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kekri was the festival of the ending of the farming year. It was perhaps the most important of celebrations for the common people, and also marked the change of year. It was originally not tied to one specific date, but villages and even farms may have theirs when the harvest and autumn work was done. Usually this took place sometime in October, later it was described as having been observed somewhere between Mikkelinpäivä (Michaelmas) and Pyhäinpäivä (All Hallows). These describers obviously were following a Christian calendar.  
> It was important that everyone got drunk, because that brought good harvest for the next year. Dressing up was related to the feasting but according to my source also to the ancestors and representing them in this world. Also, representation of wild powers of nature, as opposed to order of human society, may be involved, similar to other carnevalistic traditions.
> 
> Later it became connected to All Hallows and assimilated by Christianity, as so often happened. It was nevertheless observed in some form until 1800’s and even later as a tradition thing. Now it’s been gaining traction again, and Kajaani has built a straw goat for Kekri and burned it for two decades.
> 
> Forum YoinkTober 2020, 8.10.2020


	7. Food

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lalli is not a fan of strange foods

Lalli came home to find the kitchen in floury chaos and smelling of burnt bread. What’s this? Emil had said he’d cook, but hadn’t mentioned baking. Besides he was a very good baker, Lalli thought fondly. He wouldn’t burn things. By accident. Not in the kitchen anyways. Any more. The oven was hot nevertheless, and a flat piece of something was waiting to be baked.

“Oh, there you are! Go change, the dinner will be ready soon!” Lalli did as told, although there didn’t seem to be any proper food around. A casserole would give out a smell if it were almost ready.

Soon Emil called him to table. He had cleaned most of the flour, but had an incredibly goofy and adorable spot of flour on his cheek. He seemed a bit anxious when he produced two plates and then lifted the flat thing on the table. It was... weird. Some sort of weird ugly pie. It had some reddish sauce, a little meat, onion and cheese. And based on the smell, a lot of garlic. Emil had noticed that Lalli was a picky eater when there was possibility to choose, and usually he discussed any new foods beforehand. This was weird. Still, Lalli was determined to give it a try, although he was expecting to hate it. It looked stupid so it couldn’t possibly taste good!

“Hmh, what have you been up to? What is this?”  
“It’s a new recipe, very hot in Mora! I found it in one of the magazines I got last week. It’s special for us.”  
“Ok?”  
“According to the mag, we brought some cookbooks from the expedition! One of them, named Ii-taal-lii-aan cooking has been translated into Swedish last year and it’s become very popular! This kind of dish is called ‘pizza’”  
“Pissa?* Urgh!”  
“No no no sorry! Pizzzzzza, with zee!”  
“What sort of a stupid name is that!”  
“I don’t know! I don’t know what Ii-taal-lii-aan means either! It’s just the name of the food, and the book! It’s probably in foreign!”  
“Why are you cooking foreign food in the first place? Don’t you like Finland any more?”  
Emil looked hurt, almost brimming with tears. “Don’t say that! I just wanted to try something new! And it’s made of the same things anyway! Why must you be so mean!”

Lalli felt chastened. Maybe his comment had been uncalled for. “Sorry. Hungry. Can we eat now?” Grudgingly, he grabbed a piece of the weird pie (not pissa pie, he reminded himself) and bit into it. Emil was watching him intently. Lalli bit into the pie, and chewed. Not too bad actually. A weird combination, but not too bad. He made short work of the first slice. As he grabbed another one, Emil relaxed and took one fo himself too.

After a period of munching, Lalli looked up at Emil “Really, beloved, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. You know I’m particular with my food so I wasn’t happy to be surprised.”  
“Don’t I know! You are an absolute nightmare to cook anything for! And even worse, when you haven’t eaten! I just wanted to make something different, hopefully something nice. Since it was brought back by us, it’s a bit like our dish, don’t you think?”  
“Well, I suppose you could think about it like that. And... it’s good. Weird but good. It looks stupid but tastes all right.”  
“Thank you for admitting it! There is no single ingredient you wouldn’t normally eat. And not really weird texture either. It’s just arranged a bit different is all. I didn’t even consider any of the more weird versions!”  
“Ok ok. Thank you for the pis... pizzzzza. And thinking about me when choosing the recipe.”  
“You are welcome, love. And you know what, I’ll bake some crackers and put them at the door. So that you can get a little snack the minute you come in.”  
“Shut up you! Have some more pizzzzzza before I eat it all!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> * pissa = pee in Finnish
> 
> NOTE I don’t think Emil is a homemaker in their relationship. Lalli also cooks, and Emil works. In this case it had to Emil finding a new recipe and Lalli being grumpy.
> 
> Forum YoinkTober 2020, 9.10.2020


	8. Whole family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TW: Labour (no complications), blood
> 
> The family is growing

Emil was starting to tire. He’d been supporting Inka for hours now. She was of course the one doing all the real work, so he wouldn’t complain. But surely it would be over soon. Inka leaned on him and breathed heavily between the violent contractions. Rakel was trying to make her more comfortable by massaging her back. Lalli was singing the birthing song and giving everyone quick, reassuring little strokes. The midwife, Anja, was encouraging them all. “The baby is ready to come out now. Inka, next you push with every contraction, ok? Rakel, be ready to help me with the baby.”

Emil had thought Inka was utterly exhausted, but suddenly she seemed to well new strength from somewhere. Lalli’s singing took on a faster tempo, and he poured birthing water on Inka’s head and back. Her grip on Emil’s shoulders tightened painfully and she cried out in the rhythm of the birth. But after a moment the baby was out. Anja and Rakel got hold of the baby, and Anja told Emil to help Inka lean back and breath a little before the afterbirth.

Rakel tied the umbilical cord and they all gathered around Inka and the baby in her arms. She was strong and loud from the very beginning. She was covered in blood and slime, as were they all. And she was the most beautiful thing Emil had ever seen. As everything seemed to be well, Anja left the family in the sauna to go tell the villagers waiting outside. “A fine and easy birth! You did well, Inka! And all of you, good job helping her. You could have done this without me.” This was an easy birth? Emil wondered. Hadn’t seemed easy to him.

They washed the baby and the birth mother. Everyone else needed some washing too, even Lalli had blood on his hands, arms and face, even though he’d just been singing! He looked almost as exhausted as Inka - ok, to be fair, it’s not just singing.

When the baby girl was bathed, they saw a tuft of fine silvery hair on her head. “Look at that. She’s yours by blood!” Emil said to his husband, smiling.

“She’s _ours_ by family. By love.” Lalli responded.

Emil looked at his beautiful family, now one new person larger. “Yes, by family, and by love.” They all embraced each other, surrounding their newborn daughter with their love and tenderness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Forum YoinkTober 2020, 30.10.2020

**Author's Note:**

> Chapter break filler round 1, 13.4.2020


End file.
